Plus: LaMarcus Aldridge never asked to be traded

Six years ago in a conversation with Rick Adelman, now the coach of the Timberwolves, the subject of Greg Oden was raised. Oden had just been made the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by Portland, but had suffered a knee injury that would cause him to miss his first NBA season. That immediately sprouted comparisons to Sam Bowie—the No. 2 pick by Portland in the 1984 draft, one spot ahead of Michael Jordan.

Adelman had some personal knowledge of the situation. He was an assistant with Portland when Bowie broke his left leg in 1985 and then his right leg in 1986, an injury from which he never completely recovered.

“His leg never healed,” Adelman said. “He broke it shooting a jump hook, he broke it just walking around. The bone never healed. If that hadn't happened, Sam Bowie would have been a pretty good player in the NBA. If you go back, before that happened, he was averaging 15, 16 points and about 11 rebounds.”

In the early part of Oden’s career and after the first knee injury, Bowie was the one name no one wanted to hear. Fans associate Bowie with the ultimate draft bust not only because of his injuries, but because he had the dubious honor of being selected ahead of Jordan. Oden, similarly, was chosen ahead of perennial MVP candidate Kevin Durant. As long as there was hope that Oden could get past his injury and start playing up to the billing he carried before the ’07 draft, there was a chance he could avoid impending Bowie-hood.

Now, though? It is hard to imagine a better role model for Oden than Sam Bowie.

Oden signed with the Heat this week, officially beginning the comeback attempt for a guy who has not played an NBA game since December 2009. His litany of injuries is a long one. He required microfracture surgery on his right knee in September 2007 and needed left knee surgery in 2009 when he fractured his patella. He had microfracture surgery again in 2010, this time on the left knee, to address a defect in the joint. Oden again had microfracture surgery on the left knee in early 2012. At the time, he also had arthroscopic surgery on the right knee at the time.

That’s not unlike the ordeal that Bowie endured from 1985-’89. He played 63 games over the course of four years, missing the ’87-’88 season entirely. But in 1989-’90, Bowie was traded to the Nets and put together a solid season, averaging 14.7 points and 10.1 rebounds, playing 68 games. He was never completely healthy, but he did not miss more than 20 games in any of his four years with New Jersey, averaging 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in that span.

Bowie stuck around the league for two more years after that, wrapping up his career as a Laker in 1995 when he was 34 years old. For Oden, who is 25 years old, that sounds like something close to a dream scenario. Where Bowie was once the one guy Oden most wanted to avoid becoming at all costs, Bowie should instead be taken as an inspiration for Oden now.

Aldridge's false claim

Portland general manager Neil Olshey pretty emphatically shot down rumors of unhappiness on the part of forward LaMarcus Aldridge and poked holes in reports he was seeking to be traded. Aldridge himself was never reported to have asked for a deal, and the suggestion that Aldridge’s “camp”—which essentially means his agent—was pushing for a move doesn’t make much sense, either.

That’s because Aldridge, as Olshey pointed out, is represented by Arn Tellem. Olshey owes his basketball success in large part to Tellem—Olshey began in player development for SFX back when Tellem was the star agent there and worked his way up from that point. If Tellem wanted an Aldridge deal he would, obviously, go directly to his former employee with that request and would not leak it to the media in the process.

“I think it comes from all you (in the media), everybody fighting to be first with inaccurate information,” Olshey told reporters on Thursday. “I can tell you, LaMarcus Aldridge, you guys have known him longer than I have. And if he had asked to be traded, he would have told people that he asked to be traded. He never asked to be traded.”

Shabazz screws up

Of all the guys who needed to be on their best behavior at the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program this summer, Shabazz Muhammad was near the top of the list. Before the draft, character questions dogged Muhammad, especially after an L.A.Times report revealed that Muhammad had been lying about his age.

Instead, the Timberwolves’ new wing man was busted for bringing a female guest to his hotel room on Tuesday. It is not a horrendous offense, but that’s not what matters. It was a very dumb thing to do—the league monitors players at the RTP very closely and they merely ask that everyone follow a certain set of rules for those three days in the rural hinterlands where the program is headquartered. The message is: This is a job, don’t blow it.

Muhammad came into the league already pocked with question marks—many on the court, many off the court. He didn’t need to add more fodder for his detractors.